Process of making fertilizer materials.



i of producin PERCY HUTCHINGS CARTER, 0F SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

PROCESS OF MAKING FERTILIZER MATERIALS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 24, 1918.

No Drawing. Application filed July 1, 1916, Serial No. 107,189. Renewed July 17, 1918. Serial No. 245,402.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PERCY H. CARTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Savannah, in the county of Chatham and 6 State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Fertilizer Materials, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a process fertilizer material, containing solidified ertilizer stick obtained from slaughter houses, garbage plants, fish factories and the like.

An important object of. this invention is 16 to provide a process for economically converting fertilizer stick, which is normally semi-liquid, viscous and deliquescent, into a solid and non-deliquescent condition whereby it is adapted for use 20 as a fertilizer constituent.

Another object'of-theinvention is to provide a process of treating phosphate rock to render it available for use as a fertilizer, and, at the same time, yield a product which is adapted for causing the stick to harden and set.

A further object of this invention is to provide an inexpensive fertilizer material aving a high stimulative influence on plant life, possessing great value as a soil improver and plant food, and adapted, when added to soils, to produce particularly favorable conditions for the rapid and extensive development of beneficial soil bacteria.

85 Other objects and advantages of the invention willbe apparent from the following specifications.

As is well known, the stick obtained from slaughter -houses,-garbage plants, fish factories, and the like, contains ammonia, in considerable amounts, and is valuable as a fertilizer constituent. The material is, however, normally semi-liquid, viscous and deliquescent which prevents its use, without 46 further treatment, as a fertilizer constituent and great difliculty has heretofore been experienced in converting the semi-liquid material into a solid form and stable condition.

I havediscovered that the stic can be so readily and economically converted into a .solid form and non-deliquescent condition by the action thereon of a metal sulfate such as miter-cake, and that the conversion can be advantageously carried out by treating a so- 66 lution of niter-cake with tri-calcium phosphate whereby, as I have found by experisuccessfully and ence, the phosphate is not only rendered available for use as a plant food but the stick is solidified, and its viscosity and deliquescence overcome.

In the practice of my process in its preferred form, I dissolve niter-cake in approximately an equal amount by weight of water, allow the solution to settleandfdraw off the clear supernatent liquid. The acidity of the solutionis then determined, and sufiicient alkaline earth metal phosphate, preferably phosphate rock, is added to take up the acidity of the niter-cake. As a result of this reaction, a compound is formed containing approximately eight per cent. of available phosphoric acid. Immediately after adding the phosphate rock to the solution as above described, I add the stick, preferably employing one part by weight of this material and three-parts by weight of the solution.

The mixture is stirred until it becomes thoroughly homogeneous, and is then run into suitable molds and allowed to set or harden therein. The mixture hardens and dries readily, and is not deliquescent. It has been found to contain as high as 10 per cent. of available phosphoric acid, and over 3 per cent. of ammonia. However, if too much fertilizer stick is added for the purpose of increasing the percentage of ammonia, the resulting compound will not properly harden and dry out.

The process yields a product which is rich in protein matter, free phosphoric acid and ammoniacal nitrogen, and is adapted to produce a rapid and lenteous crop response when used as a fert lizer constituent.

While I have described in detail the preferred practice of my process, and proportions of ingredients employed therein, it is to be understood that such process is not limited to the exact details of procedure set forth, nor to the proportion of in edients recited, but that these may be wide y varied without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim:

1. The herein described process of producing a fertilizer or fertilizer constituent, which consists in subjecting a solution of niter-cake to the action of phosphate rock,

subjecting fertilizer stick to the action of the resultant composition, and allowingthe mass to dry and harden.

2 The herein described process of produc-.

Q 1,279,ssa

ing a fertilizer or fertilizer constituent, In testimony whereof I afiix my signature which consists in subjecting niter-cake to the in presence of two witnesses.

action of a tri-calcium phosphate in the presence of water, subjecting fertilizer PERCY HUTCHINGS CARTER 5 stick to the actionof the resultant composi- WVitnesses:

tion, and allowing the mass to dry and FREDERICK T. SAUssY,

harden. J. G.- MORRIS. 

